SEC Eases Compliance with Pay Ratio Rule

New guidance on the CEO pay ratio rule, released last week by the Securities and Exchange Commission, brings significant relief to companies concerned about the possible high costs of compliance.It does nothing, however, to answer persistent questions as to whether a company’s disclosure of its p...

By David McCann • Sept. 26, 2017

Companies Piling Losses onto Balance Sheets

Companies may be managing earnings by shifting potential income-statement losses to the other comprehensive income (OCI) part of their balance sheets, the authors of a new study of OCI find.Charles Mulford The report’s authors, Georgia Tech accounting professor Charles Mulford and graduate studen...

By David Katz • Sept. 25, 2017

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Tax policy shifts: What CFOs need to know to stay ahead

Discover how evolving tax policies are creating new opportunities and challenges for CFOs.

By CFO.com staff

M&A Opportunities Abound — If Companies Lower Their Bar

Where are the mergers and acquisitions?Consumer confidence is high. Equity values have been climbing for years, and the markets have seen a significant bump since the presidential election, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average climbing 22% and the Nasdaq Composite 24% [as of Sept. 19].Bain’s Dal...

By Dale Stafford • Sept. 25, 2017

Carmax Rides Gulf Storms, Stock Rises 7.6%

Carmax on Friday posted better-than-expected quarterly results that showed minimal impact from Hurricane Harvey and sent its stock up more than 7%.The largest U.S. used-car retailer said earnings increased 16.7% to 98 cents per share, while net sales rose 9.7% to $4.39 billion. Analysts had expec...

By Matthew Heller • Sept. 22, 2017

Best Buy 4-Year Outlook Disappoints Investors

Best Buy shares fell for a second straight day on Wednesday, reflecting investor disappointment over the company’s financial outlook for the next four years.On its investor day, the consumer electronics retailer said Tuesday it expects enterprise revenue to increase to $43 billion in fiscal 2021 ...

By Matthew Heller • Sept. 20, 2017

Weak Yogurt Sales Add to General Mills’ Woes

General Mills shares fell sharply on Wednesday after the company reported disappointing quarterly earnings amid weak demand for cereal and yogurt.For the first quarter, General Mills’ overall sales declined 4% to $3.8 billion, reflecting not only a 7% drop in U.S. cereal sales but also a double-d...

By Matthew Heller • Sept. 20, 2017

Companies Get Help with Materiality Definition

Encouraging companies to apply judgment instead of using checklists, the International Accounting Standards Board has issued guidance on on how to make materiality judgments.Effective September 14, the guidance’s purpose is to help corporate executives make sure that their companies’ financials f...

By David Katz • Sept. 19, 2017

New Credential, Standards Add Value to Valuations

Companies that issue financial statements in accordance with U.S. GAAP, and users of the financials, would benefit from a more rigorous, consistent, and efficient approach to valuation for financial-reporting purposes.Now that benefit is at hand, via a new professional credential — along with mor...

By Michael Aronow and Joan D'Uva • Sept. 19, 2017

Rope Tightens Around Global Tax Avoidance

The OECD’s base erosion and profit shifting (BEPS) project, with an overall goal of reducing global loss of tax revenues due to double non-taxation, has created the need for careful monitoring of developments in international tax law.Christopher Howe Universal revenue needs are fueling an unprece...

By Christopher Howe and Alan Cathcart • Sept. 18, 2017

Oracle Shares Slip on Cloud Revenue Outlook

Oracle shares fell more than 7% on Friday as the company’s quarterly guidance came in below analysts’ estimates amid a slowdown in the growth of its cloud business.For the first quarter, Oracle reported total revenue increased 7% to $9.19 billion, driven by a 51% gain in cloud revenue to $1.5 bil...

By Matthew Heller • Sept. 15, 2017

CFOs Should Partner with Chief Procurement Officers

For most companies, supplier spending is their single largest cost — about 50% of revenue for manufacturing and 30% for services. And yet, this major contributor to profit and loss is often buried as many companies have poor visibility into their procurement costs.Mike Hales But what exactly is “...

By Mike Hales and Jeff Postma • Sept. 14, 2017

Board Interest in Sustainability Reporting Doubles, Survey Finds

The portion of public company board members who believe that sustainability disclosures are important to inform investors has more than doubled, according to a new survey.Out of 130 board members surveyed in August by the accounting firm BDO USA, 54% say that disclosures regarding sustainability ...

By David Katz • Sept. 13, 2017

Alexion to Cut 20% of Workforce, Move HQ

Drug maker Alexion said Tuesday it will reduce its global workforce by 20% and move its headquarters as it seeks to rebuild a drug pipeline that is heavily dependent on the blood disorder treatment Soliris.The moves continue Alexion’s “strategic assessment” of its organization amid pressure to cu...

By Matthew Heller • Sept. 12, 2017

What I Learned from Being Fired

During his company’s August earnings call, Robert Falzon, the CFO of Prudential Financial, demonstrated his longstanding ability to develop a positive outcome from a negative event. Falzon and other executives of the life insurance and financial services giant had some bad news to explain to the ...

By David Katz • Sept. 12, 2017

Getting Over Hurdle Rates

As upbeat as CFOs may feel about the growth prospects for their own companies and the broader economy, they have yet to loosen the criteria they use for making investment decisions.In the second-quarter Duke University/CFO Magazine Global Business Outlook Survey, which collected responses from 75...

By Josh Hyatt • Sept. 12, 2017

Kroger Profit Slips 8% Amid Discounting War

Kroger shares tumbled on Friday after the nation’s largest supermarket chain reported an 8% decline in quarterly profit as intense price competition cut into its margins.As of Thursday’s close, the stock, once a Wall Street darling, had fallen nearly 35% this year and it slid another 7.5% to $21....

By Matthew Heller • Sept. 8, 2017

Dell Revenue up 48% on Strong PC Business

On the first anniversary of its $67 billion acquisition of EMC Corp., Dell Technologies reported quarterly results that showed the impact of the largest tech merger in history — and its continuing costs.Dell’s second-quarter quarterly revenue rose 48% to $19.3 billion amid strong PC shipments whi...

By Matthew Heller • Sept. 8, 2017

PCAOB Probes Help Companies Raise Capital

Audit firm inspections by the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board increase companies’ ability to raise capital, according to a new study.Companies audited by PCAOB-inspected auditors “raise significantly more external capital following the disclosure of their auditors’ PCAOB inspection repo...

By David Katz • Sept. 7, 2017

Barnes & Noble Same-Store Sales Slide 4.4%

Barnes & Noble’s cost-cutting yielded a reduced quarterly loss but the bookseller’s shares fell sharply on Thursday as its results missed analysts’ estimates.For the first quarter, Barnes & Noble reported a net loss of $10.8 million, or 15 cents per share, after a loss of $14.4 million, o...

By Matthew Heller • Sept. 7, 2017

New IRS Rules Could Give Headaches to Partnerships

New rules poised to take effect next year will significantly alter the way the IRS audits partnerships and other “pass-through” entities. The rules could have widespread effects, since many large companies are formed as partnerships and other types of pass-throughs, and even more invest in them v...

By Heléna M. Klumpp • Sept. 6, 2017

Trivago Shares Dive on Reduced Guidance

Shares in Trivago fell sharply on Wednesday after the hotel-search platform lowered its full-year guidance due to a slowdown in revenue from hotels and other travel companies.Trivago, which went public in December, charges hotels for the referrals it provides to theirwebsites. It now expects annu...

By Matthew Heller • Sept. 6, 2017

Research Refutes Sarbanes-Oxley Critics

Since its passage in 2002 in response to financial scandals that shook the corporate world, the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, or SOX, has steadily been a target for critics. No provision of the law has provoked more complaints than Section 404(b), which requires companies to have external auditors assess t...

By David McCann • Sept. 5, 2017

Lego to Cut 1,400 Jobs Amid 8% Sales Drop

Lego plans to lay off 8% percent of its staff, saying it needed to press the “reset button” after experiencing its first sales decline in more than a decade.The Danish toymaker on Tuesday reported that sales for the first half of the year dropped 5 percent to 14.9 billion Danish crowns ($2.38 bil...

By Matthew Heller • Sept. 5, 2017

Lands’ End Delivers First Sales Gain in 3 Years

Lands’ End’s on Thursday reported its first quarterly sales increase in three years but its shares dropped more than 12% as its loss widened.The apparel retailer’s second-quarter results were an early test for new CEO James Griffith, who, after taking over from Federica Marchionni in March, kille...

By Matthew Heller • Aug. 31, 2017

It’s a Big Year for Emerging Growth Companies

On April 5, 2012, four years after the 2008 financial crisis and in the midst of a still-sluggish economy, President Barack Obama signed into law the Jumpstart Our Business Startups (JOBS) Act. Passed with bipartisan support, the legislation was intended to encourage the growth of small businesse...

By Financial Executives Research Foundation • Aug. 31, 2017